Prices in the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), advanced 1.6 percent for the 2 months ending in April 2022, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Alexandra Hall Bovee noted that the April change was largely due to a 1.1 percent increase in the all items less food and energy index. The energy index also rose since February, up 7.4 percent. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, month-to-month changes may reflect the impact of seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U increased 9.1 percent, mostly due to a 7.1-percent increase in the all items less food and energy index as the impact of significantly higher prices for new and used motor vehicles since April 2021 continued. The energy index and the food index also rose over the year. The 30.5 percent increase for the energy index continued the trend of higher 12-month increases since March 2021 and matched the November 2021 increase, the largest of that period. (See chart 1 and table 1).

Food

Food prices rose 1.3 percent for the 2 months ending in April. The food at home index was up 2.3 percent, due in large part to higher prices for fruits and vegetables, up 6.0 percent and nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials, up 4.5 percent. The food at home price increases were tempered by other food at home prices decreasing 0.8 percent. The food away from home index decreased 0.7 percent in April 2022 following a 0.1 percent decline in February; prices were up during the previous 5 bi-monthly periods, peaking at 6.3 percent in December.

Over the year, the food index rose 11.3 percent as prices were up for both food at home (13.0 percent), and food away from home (7.6 percent). The 12-month increases for the overall food index as well as food at home were the largest for these indexes since they started in January 1999.  The increase in the food at home index was led by a 20.7 percent rise in prices for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs - the highest since that series began publication in 2018.

Energy

The energy index advanced 7.4 percent for the 2 months ending in April (see table 1). The increase was mainly due to higher prices for gasoline (11.6 percent). Prices for electricity increased 2.6 percent while prices for utility (piped) gas service declined 2.3 percent for the same period.

Energy prices jumped 30.5 percent over the year, largely due to higher prices for gasoline (39.5 percent). While this was the 15^th consecutive month when gasoline prices were higher than the year before, it was still well below the peak of 57.9 percent in May 2021. Prices paid for electricity jumped 19.5 percent, the largest 12-month increase for electricity since May 2008. The utility (piped) gas service index was up 15.2 percent during the past year.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy rose 1.1 percent in the latest 2-month period. Higher prices for shelter (2.0 percent) were responsible for most of that rise, driven by increasing prices for lodging away from home and owners’ equivalent rent of residences, up 23.4 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively. Public transportation prices rose while the new and used motor vehicle index was unchanged.  The overall increase was partially offset by lower prices for apparel (-5.8 percent), which typically drop in April, and medical care (-1.5 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy increased 7.1 percent. Components contributing to the increase included new and used motor vehicles (26.5 percent) and shelter (4.9 percent). The 12-month increase in shelter prices was the largest over-the-year increase for the shelter index since October 2008. A decrease in the apparel index (-2.9 percent) slightly offset the increases throughout the rest of the major components of the all items less food and energy index.

The Consumer Price Index for June 2022 is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, July 13, 2022, at 8:30 a.m. (ET).

Technical Note

The Consumer Price Index for Baltimore-Columbia-Towson is published bi-monthly. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change in prices over time in a fixed market basket of goods and services. The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes CPIs for two population groups: (1) a CPI for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) which covers approximately 93 percent of the total U.S. population and (2) a CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) which covers approximately 29 percent of the total U.S. population. The CPI-U includes, in addition to wage earners and clerical workers, groups such as professional, managerial, and technical workers, the self-employed, short-term workers, the unemployed, and retirees and others not in the labor force.

The CPI is based on prices of food, clothing, shelter, and fuels, transportation fares, charges for doctors' and dentists' services, drugs, and the other goods and services that people buy for day-to-day living. Each month, prices are collected in 75 urban areas across the country from about 5,000 housing units and approximately 22,000 retail establishments--department stores, supermarkets, hospitals, filling stations, and other types of stores and service establishments. All taxes directly associated with the purchase and use of items are included in the index.

The index measures price changes from a designated reference date; for most of the CPI-U the reference base is 1982-84 equals 100. An increase of 7 percent from the reference base, for example, is shown as 107.000. Alternatively, that relationship can also be expressed as the price of a base period market basket of goods and services rising from $100 to $107. For further details see the CPI home page on the internet at www.bls.gov/cpi and the CPI section of the BLS Handbook of Methods available on the internet at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cpi/. In calculating the index, price changes for the various items in each location are averaged together with weights that represent their importance in the spending of the appropriate population group. Local data are then combined to obtain a U.S. city average. Because the sample size of a local area is smaller, the local area index is subject to substantially more sampling and other measurement error than the national index. In addition, local indexes are not adjusted for seasonal influences. As a result, local area indexes show greater volatility than the national index, although their long-term trends are quite similar. Note: Area indexes do not measure differences in the level of prices between cities; they only measure the average change in prices for each area since the base period.

The Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD, Core Based Statistical Area includes Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford, Howard, and Queen Anne’s counties, as well as Baltimore City, in Maryland.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

Table 1. Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U): Indexes and percent changes for selected periods, Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD, (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted) (not seasonally adjusted)

Expenditure category	Indexes				Percent change from
	Historical data	Feb. 2022	Mar. 2022	Apr. 2022	Apr. 2021	Feb. 2022	Mar. 2022
All items		286.243		290.688	9.1	1.6
Food and beverages		301.349		304.719	10.6	1.1
Food		301.625		305.462	11.3	1.3
Food at home		268.414	269.020	274.684	13.0	2.3	2.1
Cereals and bakery products		320.957		330.254	11.7	2.9
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs		285.709		290.066	20.7	1.5
Dairy and related products		255.699		262.871	8.7	2.8
Fruits and vegetables		311.853		330.492	10.4	6.0
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials(1)		184.655		193.023	13.2	4.5
Other food at home		243.247		241.348	9.6	-0.8
Food away from home		347.028		344.597	7.6	-0.7
Alcoholic beverages		293.602		289.919	1.2	-1.3
Housing(1)		280.154		285.464	6.2	1.9
Shelter		328.315	330.473	334.945	4.9	2.0	1.4
Rent of primary residence		375.145	376.158	380.335	3.2	1.4	1.1
Owners' equivalent rent of residences(2)		347.138	348.121	350.827	4.1	1.1	0.8
Owners' equivalent rent of primary residence(2)		347.138	348.121	350.827	4.1	1.1	0.8
Fuels and utilities		258.912		265.371	18.3	2.5
Household energy		227.674	222.486	234.265	20.8	2.9	5.3
Energy services		241.682	233.318	246.008	18.8	1.8	5.4
Electricity		222.395	216.832	228.261	19.5	2.6	5.3
Utility (piped) gas service		236.463	217.286	230.983	15.2	-2.3	6.3
Household furnishings and operations		132.889		133.354	7.0	0.3
Apparel		129.711		122.238	-2.9	-5.8
Transportation		260.670		271.552	26.9	4.2
Private transportation		268.109		275.965	28.0	2.9
New and used motor vehicles(3)		134.755		134.702	26.5	0.0
New vehicles(1)		264.932		264.693	29.4	-0.1
Used cars and trucks(1)		370.791		360.365	23.6	-2.8
Motor fuel		304.295	348.615	340.330	39.9	11.8	-2.4
Gasoline (all types)		297.814	340.359	332.226	39.5	11.6	-2.4
Gasoline, unleaded regular(4)		302.527	346.262	337.465	40.5	11.5	-2.5
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(4)(5)		313.716	356.488	351.702	34.8	12.1	-1.3
Gasoline, unleaded premium(4)		296.286	334.533	330.431	32.3	11.5	-1.2
Motor vehicle insurance(1)
Medical care		482.000		474.977	0.1	-1.5
Recreation		135.089		136.484	8.2	1.0
Education and communication(3)		158.998		159.343	0.8	0.2
Tuition, other school fees, and child care(1)		1,294.357		1,300.471	2.3	0.5
Other goods and services		488.698		489.310	7.6	0.1
Commodity and service group
Commodities		220.244		223.430	14.8	1.4
Commodities less food and beverages		181.567		184.474	17.3	1.6
Nondurables less food and beverages		220.622		231.343	14.5	4.9
Durables		133.603		132.367	20.0	-0.9
Services		350.458		356.112	5.8	1.6
Special aggregate indexes
All items less shelter		271.331		274.867	11.3	1.3
All items less medical care		276.543		281.574	9.9	1.8
Commodities less food		185.310		188.129	16.8	1.5
Nondurables		257.841		265.366	12.6	2.9
Nondurables less food		224.740		234.814	13.6	4.5
Services less rent of shelter(2)		389.164		393.427	6.8	1.1
Services less medical care services		337.205		344.143	6.4	2.1
Energy(1)		270.173	286.842	290.118	30.5	7.4	1.1
All items less energy		289.331		292.464	7.6	1.1
All items less food and energy		287.384		290.424	7.1	1.1
Footnotes (1) Indexes on a March 1978=100 base. (2) Indexes on a November 1982=100 base. (3) Indexes on a December 1997=100 base. (4) Special index based on a substantially smaller sample. (5) Indexes on a December 1993=100 base.